A Tighter Budget

May 12, 1985|By Crosby Day

THE CAST and crew of CBS' Simon & Simon had an expensive time filming the 1984-85 season premiere in Paris last summer. However, there are no plans to repeat the experiment for this fall's opener, or any other episodes for that matter. ''It was quite expensive over there,'' said co-star Tim Reid, who plays policeman Downtown Brown on the private-eye series. ''At just one restaurant, our wine tab was $6,000. Universal the series' production company still hasn't gotten over it. We have orders to stay put in San Diego this year.''

2 FOR THE ROAD?

SIMON & Simon may be filming in its own back yard this year, but producer Stephen Cannell would like to take two of his shows on the road -- if the budgets can be worked out. Cannell said he wants to shoot segments of ABC's Hardcastle & McCormick and NBC's Riptide in Ireland and Australia, respectively. Cannell said that filming the two shows on location would ''depend on the people in business affairs who, of course, would like it if we could make the trips for 50 cents.'' Cannell didn't indicate when he planned to film the two shows outside the United States.

A PRINCE OF A ROLE

BRITON MICHAEL Praed, who plays Prince Michael on ABC's nighttime soap Dynasty, said he's not sure how he got the part. Said Praed: ''They tested a lot of people of different nationalities. To be quite honest, I don't know why they went with an Englishman.'' Perhaps because he sounds so, well, royal. On Dynasty's Wednesday night cliffhanger, Prince Michael and his petulant fiancee, Amanda (Catherine Oxenberg), will stop bickering long enough to get married. ''Michael has the greatest resilience of any character going,'' Praed said. ''He takes all this garbage from Amanda, while most men would have belted her in the mouth. He's also a prince, which means he gets everything he wants, eventually.''

SOTHERN IN REMAKE

ANN SOTHERN, who co-starred with Jeanne Crain and Linda Darnell in the 1949 movie A Letter To Three Wives, will play a supporting role in the two- hour NBC movie of the same title. Sothern is the only member of the original cast scheduled to appear in the TV remake, which will co-star Loni Anderson, Michele Lee and Stephanie Zimbalist as the three wives. Sothern will play the mother of the character portrayed by Anderson. The original film won two Academy Awards, for Joseph Mankiewicz's direction and screenplay. This time around Larry Elikann will direct from a script by Sally Robinson. The NBC movie, which is being filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia, is scheduled to be televised during the 1985-86 season. The cast also includes Michael Gross of Family Ties, Doris Roberts of Remington Steele and Ben Gazzara. Southern starred in CBS' Private Secretary (1953-57) and The Ann Sothern Show (1958-61).

'SINS' BEGINS FILMING

PRODUCTION HAS started in Paris on CBS' six-hour miniseries Sins, which will be televised on WCPX-Channel 6 during the 1985-86 season. The miniseries stars Joan Collins as Helene Junot, the glamorous head of a powerful international fashion publishing empire. Also in the cast are Jean-Pierre Aumont as a treacherous aristocrat, Marisa Berenson as the editor of Junot's flagship magazine, Joseph Bologna as an architect smitten by Junot's charms, Capucine as the grande-dame of Parisian designers and James Farentino as Junot's wealthy American suitor. The miniseries also will be filmed on the French Riviera and in Venice, Italy.

GRANT TO DIRECT

OSCAR WINNER Lee Grant has been signed to direct an ABC after-school special titled Cindy Eller: A Modern Fairy Tale. It's the story of a 15-year- old girl with a wicked stepmother. The teen-ager's life changes after she befriends a bag lady in Central Park. ABC has not scheduled an air date, nor has it announced a cast. Grant won an Academy Award for her acting in the 1975 film Shampoo.